i. CHOCOLATE FROGS
( chapter one )

     Cal woke to incessant mewling and a weight on his chest. He groaned as he came to, blinking open his eyes as he peered blearily around his bedroom. It was morning, and the sun was peeking out from behind his curtains, the watery sunlight staining his walls a pale green-grey. It reminded him of the Slytherin common room; of the dark, velvet drapes and the hum of the Black Lake as it sat, omnipresent, in the background.

     He yawned loudly, stretching his arms above his head with the satisfaction only a good stretch could bring.

     The pressure on his chest moved, and sure enough, when his eyes finally adjusted being awake, they fell on his cat, Pepper, who was ( as he predicted ) sitting on his chest and meowing. He barely reacted to her presence as he set a hand of her head and scratched behind her right ear, exactly where she liked it. No wonder I dreamt I was drowning, what with all that fluff putting pressure on my chest.

     Eventually, after a while of listening to Pepper's soft purrs, Cal lifted the duvet off of him and stood up from his bed. He cradled Pepper in his arms and she settled snuggly into the crook of his elbow, her yellow eyes peering curiously up at him. He smiled without meaning to and rubbed her head with the pad of his thumb.

     "What's got you up so early, Pepper?" He asked her, grinning and not expecting a response. However—and maybe this was the Meazle blood— she made an almost sheepish sound, as if she knew exactly what he was asking her.

     He chuckled and looked over at his alarm clock: nine-thirty. Thank Merlin that she woke him up, or else there was no doubt in his mind that his Mum would have come barging into his room, tearing open the curtains and practically blinding him, complaining about the clothes on his floor and about how it would be the last time they would see each other, as if he didn't come home for Christmas. Now, at least, he would have some time to actually prepare himself for the day.

     Quickly, so as to not incur his Mum's wrath, Cal got ready for the train ride to Hogwarts, shooting his reflection a wink and double finger guns in the mirror. His friends always complained about his confidence; they said he was arrogant. He just preferred to think of himself as secure in his own body.

     Cal trotted down the stairs—passing memorabilia his Dad kept from his years at Hogwarts. He spotted the old, worn out Gryffindor scarf and countless other red and gold stuff and scoffed. He thought it was beyond tacky, but, because his room had a distinct green aesthetic and he didn't want to start a House-war in his own home, he wisely mentioned nothing of it to his Dad—and into their small kitchen, where his family were seated at the table, enjoying a hearty English breakfast. Cal joined them, pulling out his chair and digging into one of his sausages.

     "How come I still don't get to go to Hogwarts?" Whined Marian. "I'm eleven! Cal got to go to Hogwarts when he was eleven."

     Cal noticed his parents, Thomas and Daphne, exchange looks and swallowed his food with a harsh gulp. He figured that she must have seen his luggage sitting innocuously in the corner of the living room and been reminded about her lack of a Hogwarts letter.

     He always knew this day would come, and so did his parents by the silent conversation the were having. He bet that they were deciding who would tell her exactly why she wasn't allowed to attend Hogwarts, as they had him when he posed the question in his second year, noticing that his sister had displayed a dismaying lack of magic throughout her childhood. He put three galleons on his Dad being the one to tell her.

     Finally, his Dad turned to look at Cal, who was still eating his first sausage, and then to Marian, who had crossed her arms and was currently looking at their Dad with an angry pout.

     "Mary, sweetheart, do you know why you can't do magic?" She shrugged her shoulders. Cal kept eating his sausage, but it was plain for all to see that he was clearly invested in the direction of the conversation. "Well, you're...how do I put this? You're a squib, honey, which means that you can't do magic like Cal or me," explained his Dad slowly, looking like he was attempting to disarm a particularly tricky hex. "Not that there's anything wrong with that, because personally, I think you really lucked out. While you may not have been born with magic, you were certainly born with your mother's beauty, something Cal could definitely use," he said, laughing, as Cal began protesting and Marian crying.

    "Hey!"said Cal, but he was drowned out by the wails of his sister.

    "But it's not fair, Daddy! I want to go to Hogwarts. I want to do magic, too!" Screamed Marian, banging her small fists on the table. Her blue eyes were filled with tears and her cheeks shook from the effort to keep them from falling. She looked like a building about to collapse in on itself. Their Mum got up to go other to her but she stood up abruptly and charged for the stairs. "Even if it means I'm ugly like Cal!"

     "I'll go talk to her," sighed his Mum, getting up and following her daughter upstairs. Cal and his dad sat in an awkward silence, both continuing to eat their breakfast without saying a word. Cal decided to break the silence to ask a very important question.

     "Am I really that ugly?"

     After a tense car ride, filled with a heavy silence that Cal felt like he could choke on, they arrived at their destination.

     King's Cross Station.

     Pushing his trolley, stack with a trunk full of his belongings and Pepper's cage that were strapped safely to it, Cal and his Dad walked behind the other two, standing far enough apart that you would mistake them for strangers were it not for their resemblance. Cal's Dad spied the entrance to the platform, motioning for his Mum and Marian to go along, before pulling Cal towards a small alcove by the side.

     His Dad applied a security ward to the small space and turned to him.

     "Now, Cal, I wanted to speak to you for a moment," said his Dad, looking directly at him with his piercing green eyes. Eyes that Cal had always hated looking at him.

     He gulped. "Um, yeah, Dad. Sure."

     "I expect a lot from you this year," he began. "You're a sixth year, and that means something. You need to build the necessary foundations for your future. Meaning, you need to lose all other distractions from your studies." He raised a hand when Cal began to interrupt. "You can still continue on with Quidditch, I'm not that mean. But I do expect you to hunker down and try your best. None of this floundering you've been doing these past few years, you need to be a man and take responsibility for your studies."

     "Yeah, Dad, of course. I'll—"

     "I mean it, Cal. Don't let me down."

     He left with one hard, firm clap on Cal's shoulder, turning around and entering the entrance to the platform. Cal watched his retreating back as his Dad disappeared into the wall. He wanted to scream. Why was his dad so hard on him? Why couldn't he lay off him for once in his life? The entire situation was just so frustrating. He didn't know what to do or who to tell or ask for help. He was alone in this.

     So Cal, as he had for the past five years, only without company this time, carried himself through the brick wall. He was greeted by the rumbling of the train and the chattering of people, the laughter of children and the complaints of grumpy adults. Taking in a deep breath, Cal weaved his way through the crowd, coming to stand in front of his parents and his sister.

     Marian, unlike usual, wasn't giggling and climbing up on their Dad's back. She was standing by their Mum's side, looking miserable, the sides of his lips pulled down into a frown. She was still upset from the morning. And Cal reckoned that seeing all those magical families, full of magical eleven year old children about to go off to Hogwarts, only worsened Marian's mood. He tried to give her a give her a reassuring look, but she didn't dare look up from where she was glaring at a wall.

     Cal hugged his Mum, wincing at the tightness of it, then his Dad, and finally, he crouched to look Marian in the eye.

     "Hey. I know that you're sad about not going to Hogwarts, but you know what? Every week I'll send you a letter about what happens, and you can send me letters back with all the questions you want. You can learn about my classes and my friends and I'll try smuggle back a few things. Maybe even a toilet seat," said Cal conspiratorially, leaning towards her in faux-secrecy.

     Marian giggled lightly and wiped her eyes of tears. "Thanks, Cal," she mumbled weakly. "I'll miss you."

     "I'll miss you too, Mar."

     Cal pulled her into a tight hug, cocooning her head in the space where his neck and shoulder met. She folded into the hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, sniffling. Their Mum cooed softly at the picture they made.

     When Marian let go of him, and she stepped back enough, his mother hugged him again.

     "You're actually a 6th year. It's crazy how grown up you've become," she said into his ear, sounding like she was holding back tears.

     "Mum, please. I'm sixteen, not six," complained Cal.

     "Alright, alright, go," said his Mum, laughing. "But if I find a toilet seat in my mail, you better pray that I don't ground you for the entire Summer holidays."

     He broke away from the hug, waved one last time at his family and boarded the Hogwarts Express.

     Seeing as people were still saying goodbye, and most handed tried to board the train yet, he got to choose which compartment he wanted. It was an easy choice, and he quickly made his way towards the rear end of the train. Remus always sat at the back of the train, along with his annoying group of friends. And the closer Cal was to Remus, the more chance he had of 'bumping' into him.

     Ever since that fateful day in the hospital wing, Cal's crush on Remus had only deepened. It was like a seed that had grown into a large, beautiful flower, one that attracted all the bees in the meadow. Because it seemed that no matter what Remus did, whether that be continue to associate with those Neanderthals he called his friends or trip over seemingly nothing on his way to Transfiguration, he would always be the centre of Cal's world.

     Call him a romantic, but he might have even dared to call it love.

     Not that anyone could blame him. Puberty had hit Remus hard within the last few years. He had grown even taller, if that was possible, and his previously lanky body filled out with tight, lean muscle. His golden-brown hair was long enough to rest just above his eyes in an I-woke-up-like-this way. His grin was mischievous, much like the rest of his friends, but his eyes didn't flash with the same chaos. Cal thought they looked gentle, soft. Like a lover's caress. He was beautiful in every sense of the word. And Cal knew that nothing could change that. Not Remus' scars, or his apparent quietness, or even his tendency to be a pushover. None of it.

     He was the very definition of perfect.

     The thought of Remus put a smile on Cal's face. Then, a blush, like a blooming rose. He really needed to stop thinking about Remus in public.

     Cal settled into his compartment—five doors down from Remus' usual spot, close but not too close—and propped Pepper's cage up on the seat next to him. He slowly opened the cage to let her out. She purred as Cal set her down in his lap, stretching out before settling down nicely.

     And that's how he spent however long he was sat in that compartment, listening to his cat's calming purrs and thinking about Remus' smile.

     Until Carmen interrupted him, of course.

     "How's it going, goldilocks. Peasant." Her familiar voice filled the compartment, shoving out the calm and bringing in the panic. Cal, knocked out of his daydreams, jumped and accidentally jostled Pepper, who, upon seeing Carmen, bunched up like a sock and hissed, her eyes glaring hateful daggers right into Carmen's soul.

     "Fuck you, too, Pepper."

     "Seriously, Carmen. You did startle her."

     Carmen and Pepper had never gotten along. Carmen knew exactly what to say to offend everyone within a ten kilometre radius of her, including—because, of course, she would—Cal's cat. Ever since she threatened to throw Pepper off of the Astronomy Tower for peeing on her school robes, the two had been constantly out for each other's throat. Cal found it ridiculous that Carmen could get so hung up on something a cat did, but no matter what he said, she wouldn't give up in her quest for vengeance.

     "The rat started it," was Carmen's defence.

     "Pepper did not. You just barged in here like you owned the place and scared both of us half to death. I think you owe her, and me now that I think about it, an apology," said Cal, crossing his arms, as Pepper growled.

     "Cal, I'm your best friend!"

     "No, you're not. Pepper is."

     Cal pet Pepper's head.

     Carmen glared at them both.

     "I swear, the way you talk about her makes me think you're shagging her behind everyone's backs!"

     Evan Rosier, drawn towards the compartment by the sound of his best friends' voices, walked in at the exact moment Carmen finished her sentence. He moved passed Carmen, who was standing in the middle of the room—having a glaring contest with Pepper—and sat down next to Cal. He had been sitting down for less than a second before Pepper leapt up into his lap and butting her head against her hand, shamelessly asking for his attention. For some reason, Pepper had always adored Evan, even if Cal was the one who fed her and stopped Carmen from cooking her for her dinner.

     "Traitor," he said, narrowing his eyes at Pepper.

     "Have you really slept with his cat? Cal, I thought you were saving your purity for me," said Evan, wiggling his eyebrows in a move that was supposed to be seductive as Cal and Carmen burst into fits of laughter.

     For the rest of the trip, the compartment was filled with the sound of their laughter, the sound of three souls coming back together after a long time spent apart.

     Remus could recognise the sound of the Trolley from a mile away. Peter said that it was most likely because he was a werewolf, and werewolves a had heightened sense of hearing. James and Sirius, on the other hand, reckoned that it was due to the fact that Remus loved chocolate so much that he had been programmed to track it subconsciously.

     But it didn't matter why, because Remus, slouched lazily against James' shoulder as he skimmed his book, perked up at the telltale squeak of the incoming Trolley.

     "And that must be the Trolley, lads," said Sirius, watching his best friend burn a hole through the door of the compartment with his eyes. As the rest of the group began to hear what he had already been aware of, Remus began to fumble with his robes, trying desperately to find some money, anything.

     The old lady, who had been pushing the cart since their first year, appeared in the foggy glass of the compartment door, her kind face looking in before opening the door.

     "Anything from the trolley, dears?" she asked, smiling.

     They all began to enthusiastically pull out money. Peter bought a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans, James got a couple sugar quills, and Sirius paid for a bag liquorice snaps. Remus, however, quickly realised that he didn't have enough money for anything he liked on the Trolley.

     When the old lady turned to him, he could only smile lamely at her. "I'm fine, thank you."

     She nodded and began to put everything away, as they had been messed up from his friends pushing and shoving to get what they wanted, as said friends looked at him in amazement. Remus had, without fail, purchased chocolate from the Trolley every year. So to see him buy nothing was nothing short of a shock.

     "Have a lovely trip."

     The boys responded in kind before the old lady closed the door to their compartment and moved on, now a thing of the past. Sirius, James, and Peter—holding their respective sweets in their laps—focused at Remus, concerned.

     "Are you sure you don't want anything, mate? I mean, you're absolutely mad for the stuff," said James.

     "I'm fine, really. Besides, I don't have enough to buy anything but Drooble's. And you guys know how much I despise Drooble's," said Remus, shrugging his shoulders.

     Sirius, without saying a word, reached into his pocket and pulled out a galleon, tossing it at Remus, who caught it on reflex.

     "Sirius, I don't want your charity."

     "It's not my charity," he quipped. "It's my dear brother Reggy's." Sirius' smirk took up half of his face.

     "You didn't steal—"

     "Sure did. Nicked it right off of the top of his cupboard."

     When he saw the intensity of Remus' eyes, and the white of his fists, Sirius explained. "It's fine, Moony, trust me. Regulus has got more money than he knows what to dow with. He certainly won't miss a galleon."

     "Well, I dunno..." said Remus distractedly, trying to not to let his desire for chocolate outweigh his morals. However, before he could look into it too much, Sirius was shoving him out the compartment door and closing it behind him with a firm snap.

     Remus, rolling his eyes but choosing not to look a gift horse in the mouth, marched down the hallway to where the trolley lady was strolling leisurely down the narrow corridor. He hated to bother her, but it was a known fact that Remus Lupin's politeness wouldn't stand in the way of him getting his chocolate.

     In fact, his determination for chocolate was what made him nearly run over another student; a short, blond boy who had just stepped out of his compartment.

     "Relax, Carmen, I'll get you your stupid chocolate frog," the boy called back, closing the compartment door and colliding with Remus's chest. Or more specifically, Remus' chin.

     "Uh, sorry 'bout that," said Remus.

     He stepped back, leaving at least a metre or so between them, and looked at the boy he had bumped into. Remus' breath hitched ever so slightly without his permission. The word that first came to mind was sweet, from the light flush on his high cheekbones to the subtle half-smile. He had blond hair that sat lazily on his head and his eyes—sea green and sparkling—eyes that glittered like the sea in the sunlight streaming in from the window of the carriage.

     This boy was pretty.

     "It's okay," Blond Boy muttered, the light flush from before expanding to the rest of face in a glorious cloud of bright pink. "It was my fault, anyway."

     He looked so sweet, like chocolate, and Remus wanted to assume that he was a Hufflepuff, but the green of his robes made it difficult to overlook the Slytherin crest embroidered on his uniform. He looked at it for a second, and slowly, the pieces all fit together. That was Cal Axton, the Slytherin keeper that James complained was almost too good. The keeper that was sent to the hospital wing during one of his special visits.

     "You're Cal Axton, right?" Asked Remus, hoping that he wouldn't be scared away by Remus knowing his name already.

     "Uh, Yeah." He looked oddly pleased. "And you're Remus Lupin," remarked Cal, and that time it was Remus' time to be pleased. Who knew he was popular amongst people who looked like that?

     Remus cleared his throat his neck. "Yeah."

     Fortunately, or maybe not-so-fortunately depending on how you looked at it, the conversation was cut off by the arrival of the Trolley, the reason Remus was out of his compartment in the first place.

     "Excuse me."

     Cal tapped the old lady on the shoulder and smiled.

     "Hello, boys. How can I help you both?"

     "Can I please have one chocolate frog," said the two boys in unison.

     "Jinx." He looked up at Remus, grinning, his hands pointed in the shape of guns. Remus laughed, trying to get over how fucking cute this guy was.

     The old lady rummaged through the Trolley, which looked to be mostly empty of its stock. She managed to find a single box.

     "Sorry, boys, but it looks like I only have one left."

     "Oh. You take it, Remus. Regulus says that Sirius once said you practically inhale the stuff," said Cal, the epitome of gentlemanly manners.

     Through the overwhelming cuteness of this guy, Remus recognised the names being dropped and gathered enough awareness to be a bit taken aback by the fact that Cal was friends with Sirius' younger brother, a suspected death eater. There was no way a guy as pretty as Cal could be friends with someone like Regulus.

     "No, you can have it. I'll be fine," Remus replied. The two went back and forth, both insisting that the other take the chocolate frog. The pair settled on Cal taking it. He dropped a galleon into the woman's outstretched hand and took the final chocolate frog from the cart. The old lady walked away, humming a song underneath her breath.

     "Thanks, Remus, for the chocolate frog. I'll see you around, maybe?"

     Cal smiled, slowly walking backwards.

     Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck.

     "Uh, yeah. See ya," replied Remus, turning around to walk back to his compartment but not wanting to. His eyes lingered on the secretive smile on Cal's face.

     "Bye."

     And with that, Cal turned around and walked down the corridor, disappearing behind a set of compartment doors. Remus took that as his queue to go back to his friends.

     He entered the compartment, where he was met with Peter and Sirius laughing as they threw Sirius' liquorice at James, who was curled up in a foetal position on the seat.

     "Seriously. I leave for—what, five minutes? And you guys gave already resorted to assaulting each other."

     "Fine, Momma Moony. We'll stop." Sirius pouted, but he put away the bag of biting candies.

     "Thank you."

     Remus sighed, sitting down in his seat and slouching against the back of it.

     "Hey, Moony, where's your chocolate frog? You couldn't have eaten all of it," said Peter. "Merlin's beard, if you've already eaten an entire chocolate frog—"

     "I didn't get one, actually. There was only one left and Cal Axton ended up getting it."

     "Cal Axton? As in the little arsehole Slytherin seeker that saved nearly all of our shots last year?" Demanded James, fuming.

     He was still upset from the year before. Cal embarrassed him in front of Lily Evans, who he saw laughing in the stands as one after the other, James' shots were blocked. It had been a humiliating game, he had vented in the dormitory that night, swearing revenge on Cal Smith if it was the last thing he ever did.

     Remus thought he was being a bit melodramatic, and when he said exactly that, he had been met with a pillow to the face.

     "Where is the smily git. I'll get your chocolate frog back for you, Remus."

     Remus guessed that Sirius had heard of cal's name from Regulus, who, despite not talking to Sirius very much, spoke quite highly of one of his dorm-mates in the Summer of his third year. Sirius was practically itching for a fight with any one of Regulus' friends, and as one of Regulus' friends, Cal would be collateral.

     "Calm down, you idiots, I gave it to—" Remus was cut off by a knocking sound on the compartment door. Peter, as the one closest to the door, opened it and picked something up off the ground. Then, he turned to Remus and handed him a familiar chocolate box.

     Remus, throwing it to the side, rushed out of the doorway, desperate to see Cal again, to catch a glimpse of his pretty eyes or his pretty smile or his pretty anything, but all he caught was the ends of a green and black uniform as it ducked into one of the compartments down the corridor.

     He would definitely be seeing Cal again.

~

this shit took me all day to edit istg it's over four thousand words long. im going to bed, and I bEtter wake up to a fuck ton of comments about how amazing i am

i edit it tomorrow

on another note, my gifs aren't working T=T